Port_BlueCheeseCookies

Port & Blue Cheese Cookies

Lovers of good red wine sometimes need to be nudged into trying Port. A gift of Port and Blue Cheese cookies would do the nudging very nicely. Not only are amazing doors opened for red wine lovers who�ve been avoiding Port but such a gift combines fine wine with a handmade, homebaked personal touch. Even better, the Biscuits Bleu are easy to make. But more on that later�

It's relatively easy to dig up "Port" substitutes. Inexpensive �Ports� are available but you get what you pay for. They can lack concentration and complexity. Just as real Champagnes come from the district of France known as Champagne and real Icewines come from Iceland, Port � the authentic stuff � is a sweet wine that comes from Portugal. It comes in a variety of styles. The most common and affordable are �Vintage Character� and �Late Bottled Vintage� (LBV).

Real Port is made by adding Brandy to half-fermented wine. Brandy stuns the fermenting yeasts that have been converting grape sugars to alcohol. Half of the natural grape sugars are retained. The result is a lot sweeter than your average dry red wine. And beware! At 20% alcohol by volume Port can be very stunning.

�Vintage Character� Ports are meant to taste like authentic Vintage Ports. Graham�s Six Grapes (+208405) $26.99 is widely available and comes in a half-bottle for $14.99. It�s a loud and rowdy young Port, full of the flavours of plums and figs, liquorice and chocolate.

Taylor's First Estate (+309401) $21.95 is an excellent authentic Port buy. As well as raisins and cherries and the dark fruit flavours of cassis and blackberry, this �Vintage Character� Port adds chocolate and leather and molasses.

Ready to drink, now, Taylor First Estate doesn�t need decanting. Have a sip before nibbling on a Blue Cheese cookie. Then compare how the rich dark fruit flavours become more luxurious after nibbling the Blue Cheese cookie.

Aged in large casks from 4 to 6 years, �Late Bottled Vintage� Ports are lighter coloured than �Vintage Character�. Being typically older, LBVs are often a little less sweet and the original grape flavours (mostly berries and fruits) have aged, in many cases, into assorted nuts and intriguing aromatic cake spices. Although late-bottled (Vintage Ports are bottled after only 2 years) LBVs are vintage wines � made from grapes grown in a single year.

Dow�s LBV �97 (+533364) $24.99 is drier than many Ports, though still undeniably a dessert wine. Raisins, fresh sweet figs and ripe jammy plums slide quite seamlessly from the aromatic spectrum onto the tongue. Luscious stuff!

Quinta do Noval LBV �98 (+570374) $31.99 is the product of a single year�s harvest. Aged in barrels for five years, it is made mostly from Tinta Roriz and Touriga Francesa grapes, trodden by foot and fermented in the traditional open concrete or granite �lagares� of the estate.

�Late Bottled Vintage� (LBV) Ports like Noval - as with most true �Vintage� Ports - are bottled unfiltered and can need decanted carefully to avoid stirring up the fine layer of spent grape solids at the bottom of the bottle. And what a wealth of flavours - cherries, berries, figs, tea, new leather, liquorice, chocolate, cloves and cinnamon! Don�t forget the Blue Cheese cookies�

Walnut, Blue Cheese & Cranberry Cookies

1 cup crumbled blue cheese
Half cup salted butter, room temp
Half tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 cup flour
Three quarters cup walnut bits & crumbs
Three quarters cup chopped dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350�F. Mix cheese, butter and pepper until roughly blended. Stir in flour, nuts and cranberries until doughy. Form dough into one inch balls and press flat to one quarter inch. Bake 20 �25 minutes until golden around bottom edges. Cool and store in airtight tin.

Any of these luxurious wines � with or without a small tin of Walnut, Blue Cheese & Cranberry Cookies � would make a great gift for winelovers on your list.

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